I’m not moving back to Portland, Oregon, and the reason why, is Meth-Amphetamine.

I used to run a lot in Oregon, it was like my weekly ritual. Every Wednesday, when school was out, I’d go outside and run at the local high school. I’d get out of the house and I’d run on the track, right off of 82nd Avenue. Oddly enough, not far from this exact location, 2 men were brutally stabbed to death, while riding on public transit, only 2 months after I left.

It was just different there. As an example of this, the local high school, where I would run, had barbed wire fences surrounding it….. almost like a prison.

Every time I ran there, I would think to myself, “I bet at least one kid has seriously gotten hurt, trying to hop this fence.”

In fact, I’d bet many children have been hurt on this city block….

But this was my dilemma…… While the local high school, had barbed wire fences surrounding it, likely to deter local addicts from stealing track equipment……. it was hard to tell if the school was to blame, or the neighborhood itself…..

This was because rather frequently, during my walk to the high school… I’d encounter Methamphetamine needles, littered all over the sidewalk.

While this might not be the most uncommon occurrence, or the most controversial subject matter, it was still startling to me, for a variety of reasons. This stuck with me, even here in NYC, where these types of things also do occur, and where I hope to one day become further involved in national politics. In fact, largely due to this experience, I now feel as though… it’s somewhat my obligation to bring up these issues.

However, that’s also where this issue becomes increasingly complicated, “culturally speaking.”

Meth needles on my way to the local high school on 82nd Avenue, in Portland, Oregon. -Photograph by: William Larsen

More meth needles scattered along the sidewalk of 82nd Avenue, in Portland, Oregon. -Photograph by: William Larsen. This photo was taken at 6am in the morning, during the Summer of 2016.

I don’t want to ramble on, particularly over the grave and fatal consequences of hard drug use, however, a few things did become clear to me, as to why hypodermic needles increasingly littered the street, off of 82nd Avenue.

Most notably, this pollution has to end……

Maybe littering needles…. long ago should’ve been considered, “an instant trip to prison.” Furthermore, perhaps police needed to set aside their own fears, in order to patrol this city block altogether…. this remains to be seen.

Nevertheless, the reason it bothered me so much, was actually worse…..

2 blocks from this site, where I photographed those needles, was a park where kids came to play soccer. Worse yet, these same addicts whom presumably had been littering the needles, often slept in that same park.

For this reason, I called the local hospital, to see if any children had perhaps slid into a hypodermic needle? Presumably, while playing soccer at the park. Nevertheless, the hospital replied; “they could not divulge this information to the public,” but then recommended I inquire with local police.

So I called the local police station and asked again, “have any children, perhaps been injured by hypodermic needles, littered off of 82nd avenue? Civilians News wants to know, and there’s children playing soccer there 5 days a week.”

Again, the police responded, “they could not divulge this information.” So to be clear, the police department and hospital, would not release any information, regarding children getting hurt in this manor, due to these needles.

Maybe, not one single kid…. had ever slid into a hypodermic needle, littered off of 82nd avenue. Or maybe, one or 2 had….. I don’t know and apparently I have no way of finding out. However, in March of 2017, I wrote Detective Simpson (of the Portland PD), about the dangers of that soccer field…. (to which he also, did not reply.)

Twitter.com/SgtPeteSimpson

In fact, Pete Simpson didn’t take one moment of his time, to reply to my emails. This was particularly troubling, as a journalist, because he didn’t take my emails seriously, despite Comedy Central now mocking my blog as, “fake news……” Nevertheless, you can see Pete had plenty of time to post meme’s and snicker about his job, on Twitter.

I hoped to gather more data, before posting this story, but since Officer Simpson was too busy posting Batman memes on Twitter, I figured now… was a good time to talk about it.

And that led me to the root of the problem…..

This issue, is just as much about the future of our culture, as it is, “the actual crime itself.” Actually, in many ways, this is a culturally systemic problem…… Furthermore, the real issue here, (especially when it comes to things of this nature) is talking about the issue itself.

A lot of people in the inner city, especially NYC, where I now call home….. simply do not believe in talking to the police, altogether. In fact, many people across America, fear police intervention and discourage police contact.

Similarly, I find many police officers ALSO shy away from these types of issues. I believe this is often due to the officer’s themselves and their personal beliefs and fears… In turn, this creates a circumstance that leaves children vulnerable, due to officers favoring their own personal security, over the protection of neighborhoods, like 82nd Avenue…